Finding Home
by leahloahla
Summary: Written for the Flower Challenge on CCOAC. Pairing: Emily Prentiss and Penelope Garcia. Flower: Daffodil. Of all places to run into one another, Garcia and Emily meet at the National Mall in DC while Emily is back on vacation. But Emily brought a surprise with her that Garcia is not expecting at all.


**A/N: Hey readers! This is my entry for the Flowers Challenge on CCOAC. I had written something else for this challenge but I didn't really like it so I butchered another one shot I had written but never published and turned it into this. I know it's far from perfect so I apologize for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Emily Prentiss sat on a bench at the National Mall in DC. She sat there and watched the people pass her by, hardly looking twice at her. It felt nice to be a nobody again, she was invisible and she liked it. But she wasn't as invisible as she thought because she suddenly heard someone call out her name.

"Emily?"

Emily looked around to see who the culprit that ruined her moment of relaxation was, but she couldn't find anybody she recognized.

"Emily!" the woman said again.

And this time Emily looked to her left just in time to see Penelope Garcia running toward her with open arms. Her towering heels had been swapped out for neon green sneakers, matching glasses and gel bracelets that covered most of her forearms. She had on a bright floral print top and a white and black polka dot skirt with tights that matched her top. Garcia plopped down next to Emily on the bench and engulfed her in a hug before Emily could say anything.

"Oh my goodness! It's so good to see you Buttercup! I've missed you so much!" Garcia said so quickly that Emily barely understood it.

"Hey Pen," Emily said with a huge smile on her face.

Garcia released the death grip she had on Emily but kept her hands on Emily's shoulders.

"God, you look so good!"

"Thanks," she said with a chuckle. "So do you!"

Garcia pulled Emily back into another hug and as she did so, Emily scanned the crowd to see if anyone else was on their way over to them.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Garcia exclaimed and pulled back from Emily. "Wait, why are you here? I mean, here at the National Mall; don't get me wrong or anything, I'm thrilled that I ran into you, but why didn't you call to tell us you were coming here? I know we're all supposed to get together tomorrow so maybe you just wanted some time to yourself. Oh did I interrupt a meeting or something? Em, are you waiting for someone?" Garcia suddenly looked kind of panicked but Emily quickly reassured her.

"No, no don't worry; I'm just taking in the sights," Emily replied and glanced over her right shoulder.

"Okay," Garcia replied suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" Emily asked, changing the subject.

"JJ wanted to bring Henry here and since Will has to work, I volunteered to come because who wouldn't want to spend the afternoon with the cutest little munchkin ever? And then Henry wanted Reid to come so, Reid's here too," Garcia explained happily.

Emily scanned the crowd again. "How cute. You all must be having so much fun."

"Oh yeah it's really awesome!" Garcia exclaimed. "Having Reid here it great because he handles the information Henry wants to know and of course I get to spoil Henry. But JJ's being a bit of a buzz kill because she won't let me buy Henry any more treats. If she weren't here we'd be eating ice cream by now."

Emily laughed. "Garcia, you know I love you but I will never let you take my child to The Mall without supervision."

Garcia feigned hurt and brought her hands to cover her heart. "I take slight offense to that. Wait, you just said you have a child! Emily Prentiss is there something you want to tell me?"

Emily silently cursed herself for her word choice.

"No, I just meant if I had a kid!" Emily covered quickly. "So . . . How are things going with . . ." Emily was asking about the guy Garcia was dating, but his name escaped her.

"Sam," Garcia supplied. Emily nodded. "Good. Really good in fact," Garcia said with a loving smile on her face.

"That's great," Emily replied. She was relieved that Garcia was easily distracted. "I'm so happy for you all," Emily said.

"So how are things in London?" Garcia asked.

"Great," Emily replied and glanced over her shoulder.

Suddenly a young girl appeared at Emily's side; she had auburn hair and dark brown eyes.

"Emily!" she cried excitedly. "Papa veut savoir si tu veux une crème glacée," the girl continued.

"Uh, non merci. Maintenant, retournez à votre père," Emily said to the girl with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"D'accord," she replied and skipped back in the direction she had come from. Emily watched her go, knowing all too well the danger that could be lurking in the crowd of people around them.

Garcia cleared her throat loudly and Emily winced. She turned back to Garcia to find the blonde looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd better start explaining that," Garcia ordered in a seriously scary voice that gave Emily goose bumps.

Emily sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to say. She finally came up with what she thought to be a suitable way of explaining things, but Emily looked Garcia in the eyes and lost every word she had planned on saying.

"Surprise!" Emily finally blurted and started biting her nails while waiting for Garcia's response.

Garcia's eyes widened as she saw the engagement ring on Emily's finger. She gasped and pulled Emily's hand up to get a better look.

"Oh my god!" Garcia squeaked. "When did this happen?"

"Two weeks ago," Emily mumbled and bit her lip.

"What?!" Garcia exclaimed so loudly that people turned to look at them. "Why wasn't I told? Why did I not know that you're even in a relationship to begin with?"

"Well, we started dating about a month after I moved to London and I didn't want to tell you because I didn't know how long it would last," Emily said quickly. "I thought I'd wait until I was with everyone tomorrow to announce it."

"But still Emily! For the last year you never thought of mentioning that you are in a relationship that's this serious?" Garcia looked hurt by Emily not telling her the truth. "And that you're going to have a stepdaughter?"

"I'm sorry PG," Emily replied with a sad smile, not knowing what else to say.

"It's okay, as long as you give me details. Because if you don't I will go digging around for the information myself," Garcia said with an evil grin.

"Okay," Emily agreed quickly.

"So, what's the lucky guy like?" Garcia's peppiness was back. "What does he do for a living? Is he hot? Oh, how did you meet?"

"Slow down PG, I can only answer one question at a time," Emily said with a chuckle. "His name is Patrick, he's two years younger than me, he has short black hair and the most mesmerizing green eyes in the world." A loving smile spread across Emily's face as she spoke about him. "So yeah, I'd say he's hot. He's really nice and caring and very understanding. He's a doctor; he lived in France most of his life but moved to London about fifteen years ago."

"Awe, he sounds great," Garcia said with a smile.

"Why thank you," a man said as he came to stand next to Emily and Garcia. He had a heavy French accent and the young girl was at his side. "It's always nice to get compliments from strangers." He chuckled.

"Hey," Emily said. "Okay well, some introductions are in order. Penelope Garcia, this is my fiancé Patrick Huberdeau. Patrick, this is my friend Penelope Garcia."

"Hi, it's so nice to meet you! You can call me Garcia," Garcia replied enthusiastically and stuck out her hand for Patrick to shake.

"Hello," he replied and shook her hand. "And this is my daughter, Sophie," he said motioning to the girl that was somewhat hiding behind Emily on the bench.

"Hi there cutie," Garcia said in a little more soothing voice. "How old are you?"

Sophie looked at Emily; she seemed a little shy which was unlike her. Emily nodded her head to let Sophie know that it was okay.

"Hi," she said with a big smile on her face. "I'm eight. I like your glasses," she said referring to Garcia's neon green glasses.

"Thanks Buttercup," Garcia replied. "So are you enjoying your vacation?"

"Yeah! It's awesome here!" Sophie replied enthusiastically.

"It really is," Garcia said with a bright smile.

Emily grinned as she watched Sophie interact with Garcia. The girl had immediately taken to Garcia and it made Emily happy. But Emily also felt guilty for not telling Garcia and the team about her new family.

"When you told me she was colourful, I certainly wasn't expecting this," Patrick whispered in her ear.

"Yeah," Emily replied with a slight chuckle. "Garcia is certainly one of a kind."

"So did you not tell _any_ of your friends about us?" he asked, still keeping his voice down.

Emily stood up and turned to face him; intertwining their fingers together, she made sure she had his full attention before answering.

"The only person I told was JJ but even she doesn't know we're engaged." Emily took a deep breath before continuing. "They're my family and as much as I love them, sometimes I just need to keep some things to myself. I didn't want their opinions clouding my judgement when it came to us. I didn't want to be told we were moving to fast or for them to scare you off because trust me, that has happened before. I can live with the fact that they won't be impressed with me for not sharing this part of my life because I love you and Sophie. You're my family now too and I wouldn't take back my decision if the world depended on it."

"Emily, it was your decision and if you're okay with it, then I'm okay with it too. I love you and no matter how hard they try, your friends will never scare me off," he said and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

Emily stood there grinning like an idiot for a few moments, still not quite believing the man standing in front of her. He was one of the best guys she had ever met, hands down. The shrill sound of Garcia's phone broke the couple out of their little bubble as well as halted the conversation Garcia had been having with the little girl. When Sophie turned back around to Emily and Patrick, she had a lollipop the size of her face in her hand and a bright smile on her face.

"Where did you get that from?" Patrick asked with a furrowed brow.

"Garcia," Emily answered with a knowing smile.

Sophie nodded. "She said that since I'm the cutest little munchkin I deserve the biggest sucker!"

Emily laughed, knowing that that was exactly something Garcia would say. The woman in question had stepped away to answer her phone and when she returned she was holding something behind her back. Before Emily had a chance to ask her what it was, Garcia started talking.

"So, JJ just called me. Apparently they were ready to send out a search party since they couldn't find me but I stayed _relatively_ in the area they wanted me to wait for them so I don't understand why they couldn't find me. Anyway I have to go meet them outside the Air and Space Museum now. Here." She thrust a bouquet of yellow daffodils at Emily and Patrick. "Congratulations Emily, I'm so happy for you. I can't wait to see you again tomorrow!" She enveloped Emily in another bear hug, then moved on to a skeptical Patrick and an enthusiastic Sophie. With one final wave Garcia left the group at the bench.

The family started walking down the pathway and as Emily gazed down at the flowers in her hands, she remembered something Reid had said to her once.

"You know," she began, making sure Sophie was listening. "Daffodils symbolize new beginnings and prosperity."

"Cool!" the young girl exclaimed. "Can I carry them?"

Emily handed them to Sophie who began skipping along beside Emily and Patrick.

"I find that very fitting," Patrick said.

He wrapped his arm around Emily's waist as they made their way down the shaded path. Emily had found exactly what she was looking for while in London even if she didn't know exactly what she had been looking for when she left. And now that she was going to share that with her family in Virginia, she was even happier with her decision to go away. Although she was only back for a few days, Emily knew it wouldn't be the last time she would travel back to the US with her new family.

* * *

French translation:

"Dad wants to know if you want an ice cream."

"No thank you. Now go back with your father."

"Okay."


End file.
